Tornadoes, Strong Winds Rake Oklahoma

Severe weather sweeps across Oklahoma overnight producing tornadoes and flooding.

Thursday, May 14th 2009, 7:46 am

By: News On 6


NewsOn6.com

UNDATED -- Severe weather sweeps across Oklahoma overnight producing tornadoes and flooding.

A tornado west of Tonkawa in Kay County spent about 15 minutes on the ground. There were no reports of any injuries or damage.

Watch Tonkawa Tornado Video.

That same storm brought with it high winds, rain and hail.

Another powerful storm caused all kinds of problems in southwestern Oklahoma.

In Anadarko, where practically the entire town lost power from the storm, the roof of the Caddo County courthouse and jail had its roof ripped off, forcing the sheriff's office to evacuate about 40 inmates.

Watch SKYNEWS 9 Survey Damage in Anadarko.

Start the slideshow
At least 40 homes and businesses are damaged and school
officials canceled classes Thursday because of the outages. 

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported that downed trees and power lines had led to the closure of U.S. Highways 62 and 281.

The Red Cross is now in Anadarko and has set up shelters for victims of the storm.

There have been no reports of any injuries.

Strong winds in Washington County late Wednesday broke some power poles and knocked down some trees.

Back in Tulsa, the storms caused flooding in several areas.

At 43rd and Sheridan, cars and trucks splashed through the water which couldn't run off fast enough.

High waters stranded 4 men on top of a car near 81st and Elwood. That happened shortly before midnight.

Tulsa Fire and Police helped the men get to higher ground. Police say despite high water signs, the driver decided to take a chance and that's how they all ended up on the roof of the car.

Watch Video From Water Rescue.

The same storms caused a number of lightning strikes and at least one in Tulsa sparked a small house fire.

Tulsa firefighters were called to a home at 57th and Evanston at 11 p.m. Wednesday.

Watch Video From Scene of Lightning Strike.

The homeowner was asleep until smoke detectors went off. He spotted a fire in the attic and called for help.

All four people in the home made it out safely.

The fire caused about $40,000 in damage.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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